Politics 101

Flying is so Safe already that to make it any Safer is nearly Statistically Impossible

Air travel is the safest way to travel. People are far more likely to die on the way to the airport than in an airplane. Air plane accidents and incidents are so rare these days that when one happens it is huge news. For weeks some networks devoted near 24/7 coverage of missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. Even though they had nothing to report. But that didn’t stop them from going to air to speculate about what happened. Because an airplane just disappearing like that is extremely rare.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigates aircraft accidents and incidents to determine the cause. And to come up with new ways to make aviation safer. But improving safety any more is getting difficult. And costly. They put a cost on the loss of life and compare that to the cost for the airlines (and the people who buy their tickets) to implement a proposed change. And then judge the likelihood that spending that money will actually save any lives. They could reduce the number of deaths from flying to zero simply by grounding all aircraft permanently. But the flying public wants to fly. And is apparently willing to fly even if there is a slim chance of dying.

When a plane crashes because of an event that is statistically likely to happen, say, one in 100 million flights it’s hard to justify the added expense. As that cost will not make flying any safer statistically. This is the problem with making flying safer today. It is so safe already that to make it any safer is nearly statistically impossible. And spending more resources to try and make it safe 100% of the time is just not possible. And it’s just too costly to try.

Racism is so Trivial in the Aggregate that it could not prevent a Black Child from growing up to be President

There are a lot of people on the left who say we need a dialogue on race. Because there is still racism in this country. Not Southern Democrat Jim Crowe racism. But systemic racism that stacks the deck against blacks. Despite that ‘racist’ America having elected a black president. Twice. Who appointed a black man as attorney general. Eric Holder. America’s top cop. This couldn’t have happened without a majority of white voters voting for President Obama. As blacks make up only approximately 13.1% of the population while whites make up approximately 77.9% (see United States Census QuickFacts).

So there may be some racism in America. But clearly not a lot of it. For if there was a lot of it there would have been enough people to vote against President Obama. But there wasn’t. And he won reelection. Even though his record wasn’t that good. On the economy. Or on national security. So there would have been a lot of reasons to vote against him. Especially if the American people were racist. But this didn’t happen. Suggesting that America is not as racist as those on the left would have you believe.

Sure, there is racism in America. As there is everywhere. And always will be. But is it systemic? Is it impossible for a black child to grow up to be the president of the United States? To be the top cop in the land? No. Because these things have happened. So is it necessary to focus the Justice Department only on racial injustice in the United States? Even those on the left will concede that things are a lot better now than they ever were. So should the Justice Department focus on removing the last vestiges of racism when if doing so will be very difficult if not impossible? As some people simply cannot be reasoned with? If these people were running the country perhaps it would be. But they’re not. These instances of racism are isolated incidents. So trivial in the aggregate that they could not prevent a black child growing up to be president.

Despite all of their Efforts to End Racism they haven’t reduced the Need to End Racism

A lot of people voted for President Obama to end racism once and for all. To move away from our racist past. But it seems like the left finds more racism than ever since President Obama’s election. In fact, they call any criticism of President Obama an act of racism. Making it difficult to criticize the president. As no one wants to be labeled a racist. In fact the left uses this to try and shut down debate over policy issues. Unable to defeat conservatives in the arena of ideas (as conservatives outnumber liberals 2-1) they are quick to try and shut down debate with charges of racism.

Even Attorney General Eric Holder responded angrily when testifying in Congress. Later when speaking to a mostly black audience he asked was there ever an attorney general or a president treated as poorly as he and President Obama? (Yes, there were. Especially when they were Republican). Implying that the people’s representatives, and, therefore, the people, were racist. So he can stand morally indignant as he stood in contempt of Congress. The victim. A lot in the media have come to his support. While few criticized him. Because no one wants to be called a racist. And because no one does it is a very powerful way to shift attention away from any wrongdoing by shifting the attention to those accusing you of said wrongdoing. A tactic right from the far-left strategist Saul Alinsky’s playbook (see Corrupt AG’s Feigned Outrage Shouldn’t Be Distraction posted 4/10/2014 on Investors.com).

The NTSB is trying to remove the last vestiges of air travel deaths. Which is more and more difficult to do these days as there are so few ways left to improve aviation safety. There are a lot of people trying to end racism. But if you listen to them the problem of racism has never been worse. Despite the success of President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder. Who actually benefit from this perceived racism. As they can discount any criticism of them because they’re black. And the American people are racist. Despite these same American people being responsible for their success. For a country with a 77.9% white population could have been racist enough to prevent the election of a black president. And they were given two opportunities to show just how racist they are. But didn’t. Still, the charge of racism is a powerful weapon in their arsenal. Which is why despite all of their efforts to end racism they haven’t reduced the need to end racism. For if they did that they may just have to answer for their policies.